ORMSKIRK
Clockmakers & Watchmakers
by Anthony Daly
Southern Lancashire was an important centre of clockmaking and watchmaking from the seventeenth century, especially in Liverpool and Prescot. Also the town of Ormskirk was the home of several important early clockmakers such as Henry Webster of nearby Aughton and James and John Barton, who were all makers of the distinctive Lancashire type of lantern clock, which has quite different features to those made elsewhere in England. In the early eighteenth century Ormskirk's clockmakers included John Taylor who made special longcase clocks for the gentry with a unique shaped dials and in magnificent cases, often of pollard oak, a very unusual timber for clock cases. Later in the century Thomas Barry continued the tradition of fine clocks, including a three-dial astronomical and musical table clock. The town was also noted for its furniture and local cabinetmakers produced fine clock cases, in the Lancashire style. During the early nineteenth century these developed into a recognisably Ormskirk style. Local watchmakers, in an attempt to compete with places like Liverpool, produced pocket watches with what is now known as the Ormskirk verge escapement. Although they were originally made as a cheap watch, often with an open mainspring, they are now highly collectible.
This book includes chapters on Ormskirk clock cases and on the Ormskirk verge watch, while the major part is an alphabetical list of clockmakers and watchmakers. It is illustrated with 176 photographs of clocks and watches, many of them in colour. This book comprehensively covers the horological history of the area, and will prove invaluable to those who wish to know more of its clockmakers and watchmakers.
CONTENTS
- Chapter One Introduction
- Chapter Two Ormskirk Clock Cases
- Chapter Three The Ormskirk Verge Watch
- Chapter Four Ormskirk Clockmakers & Watchmakers
- Chapter Five Notes of Interest on Ormskirk Clocks & Watches
- Chapter Six Prices of Ormskirk Clocks, Pocket Watches & Balance Scales
- Bibliography
- Index
The Author:
Anthony Daly was born in Ormskirk in 1945 and he has lived and worked in the area all of his life. He had been dealing in antiques locally for a number of years when he began to research the history of the town's cabinetmakers and the high quality of the furniture that they produced. It was soon discovered that there was a strong connection with the clockmakers of the area, particularly in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. The research also revealed that Ormskirk's clockmakers were among the earliest in the region and included some important makers of lantern, longcase and even astronomical clocks. He then researched local watchmakers and the type of pocket watch that was so identifiable with the town's watchmakers that is now known as the Ormskirk verge watch.